Sunday. Day 5 of being off work.  6 more to go if what they say actually occurs.  The manager texted me on Friday, so you want an Ohio run going out on Sunday? NO, I thought, Sure!! I replied  Why now? I just don't like that run, but considering 11 days off, I'd take just about anything. After sending me the info for the run, he literally called me up 2 minutes later and said, you aren't going to believe this. 

In this industry? I can believe anything.  During that short time frame, the plant called and said the load was cancelled. Not the load he was going to give me, but a load that another of our drivers was going to take for another division hauling Liquid Natural Gas.  I was getting the load he was originally going to get. See how that works? With at least some other drivers, they aren't selfish and willing to do whatever to keep everyone busy.  Hence, my 11 days off instead of 5.  So I said no problem.  He said, well see? At least you know I"m thinking about you.  True.  I'm not an ass kisser type of guy, but I will talk shop and attempt to at least put myself in a decent position when he "thinks" of me.  You get on a negative bent, those people thinking of you think of negativity. 

The truth of the matter is, I still could get another run before the Saturday start up for me, which will be back to back runs to Brownsville. That is, of course, subject to change.  I'd actually be surprised if it doesn't.  Just the nature of the business.  Still just amazed that we only have 13 drivers in our division now. I really didn't know that. I thought we were still at 20 or 21, wasn't sure which, especially considering they had brought some drivers back from call and demand.

Call and demand fizzled out. Our division is one of the few left this is still get decent amount of runs. 

Anyway, this morning, one of the drivers got on group text and texted to everyone: "Ok. So."  I sat there and watched for a while to see if anyone would reply. Ok, so is rather meaningless, I had a clue what he was inferring but still, a bit short on context.  So I texted back after 10 minutes ??  Another driver - the first driver's friend - texted "Me too". I texted: What are you all talking about?  After another 10 minutes, a 3rd driver and in that group of friends - those 3 or buddies outside of work - said "probably drunk text". 

But I knew what they were referring to. 5 days off.  Well deal with it.  Not the first time we have had the plant shut down, happens every year actually.  I said Vacation time! and the first driver came back with the pic of a man face palming himself. That dude is a chronic whiner as it stands.  He must have his way or the world is going to hell and the sky is falling.  I got over it the first day the manager asked me to take vacation time off.  All 3 of those drivers have worked since Tuesday when I said fine, I'm just make the best of this.  They really have nothing to complain about, but that's human nature and we all do it from time to time. Well, some do it all the time. 

Today? It's Sunday.  The Louisiana 14 quarantine mandate that Governor Abbot in Texas decreed to anyone coming from there was lifted and now, some of James and Taylor's friends are over today. Nice people.  I smoked a turkey - it only took 2 hours, I didn't realize how small the thing was. We'll have that thing devoured today for sure. 

The 5 year old was clinging to me today for whatever reason. He does that sometimes.  So after the turkey was done, I took him out back and got him back on the bicycle.  A little kid bicycle with training wheels.  He had no clue.  James came out shortly after and we said, yup, the tires are flat, so he went and got his air pump and pumped the tires back up to 35 pounds. The boy? Has no leg muscles to speak of and had no coordination.  It was a test of my patience to the boy's resolve to learn.  Angle your feet back as you try to push down!  Don't push backwards, that's the brake!  He wasn't getting it, so I took him to the carport and got him up against the neighbor's fence.

It's all a slight down hill angle, I thought if anything, it might help him.  He kept wanting me to push him, which I refused. Cycling isn't a push sport, you move it yourself with your feet and legs.  I didn't want to get the boy upset, but I didn't feel he was going to learn without figuring it out on his own with a little instruction.  The downhill worked, he finally started getting the hang of out. It got to the point where he was going to the end of the carport, getting off, pushing it back to the fence and doing it over and over and over without being prodded.  Now that's more like.  Mommy came out after about 45 minutes of this and declared it's nap time.

Everyone went out to smoke cigarettes so I went into my bedroom lol.  Been messing around all day long, just taking a break. I got them the new pool 2 days ago - but we haven't been able to put it up yet.  It's been raining and we all decided that the concrete needs to be dry before setting it up.  That way no mold will grow under it, because once the thing is full of water, water isn't going to be able to seep under it.  Yes I bought the pool - but yes they reimbursed me for it the complete purchase price.  I had to drive clean to Shreveport to get it.

Even at that, the Walmart I went to that claimed they had 2 in stock - had zero in stock of the 18 footers, they had a 23 footer that was too big.  The other Walmart over there went from 1 in stock ot zero during that time.  I did ask why they still showed the 2 in stock. WEEEEEEELLLLLLLL, THAT THING IS AAALLLLLLLWAAAAAYYYYYYSSS WRONG.  I wasted a total of 90 miles of driving to go over there and come back empty handed.  They tried to call other Walmarts, but amazingly, those other Walmarts hung up on them several times!  At least they tried. 

I looked online, Target - 19 miles the wrong direction, showed they had one.  But I decided against it. Time to go home.  On the way home, on the west side of Shreveport, is a Walmart right off the Interstate on Pines road.  It showed no pools in stock, but I wondered if the opposite could be true? It says they have none but they actually do have one?  So decided to pull in there, no loss if they don't besides a bit of time.  I got back to where the pools are and low and behold, a 14 foot wide by 42 inch tall pool!  It was the only one left.  I could probably sell the thing for double the price right now on Ebay, above ground pools have virtually disappeared at Walmarts and other stores where they are cheaper and you can't even order them online.  No, I'm not going to try and get another pool to test my theory, that's a lot of dough to be out for hoping it will sell.  And anyway, I'm not really into this idea of hoarding or price gouging. 

Meanwhile, I listed my Keurig Rivo R500 latte machine on Ebay. Why not?  It's been sitting, it works, I want to get rid of stuff.  I tried a while back to sell it and no buyers. But looking ebay, people were trying to sell those things for more than double that price.  So, it sold for $54.89 plus shipping, which has already been paid. Get that sent out tomorrow.  I was just going to give it away otherwise, no one here wants it. 

In fact, I am going to go through stuff and see what I can sell, give away or chuck.  Too much stuff. It's for a whole house, not a single bedroom. I chose this lifestyle to live with others, if there is too much I want to keep, I'll either buy my own shed or store it.  I don't want to get rid of stuff just to get rid of it.  Sentiimental things and things of family origins I would rather not just discard.  But cleaning up the back yard  and with them helping got me motivated to go ahead and start dealing with the back yard again. 

The boat - in the shop.  I don't expect to hear back from them for a while. The SUV is going into the shop Monday, get it fixed once and for all and then determine if I want to stay in that vehicle or trade it in for the truck I really want.  I'd say it isn't a good time to be buying vehicles because of the virus, but it looks like it's the best time to do so and if I can keep payments near where I'm at now, I'm good with that.  Not a priority tho, just something that I have been musing.  Property is higher on my list, but I'm just nowhere near getting that at the moment.  I still might try and apply for a loan at a lender and see what happens.  Been a long, long time since I've been late on a mortgage, car or credit card payment.

And with that? A lazy sunday.  Nothing to do but relax and take it easy.  And head back out of the bedroom and be social-able lol .